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The Priesthood, Politics and the Promotion of the “Reign of Christ” in Mid-Twentieth Century Ireland*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2007
This article suggests that religion is better understood as a form of rule rather than as a domain of human life naturally distinct from politics and government. Through an examination of an association of Catholic priests active during the 1950s and 1960s, the article suggests that reconceiving religion in terms of authority and rule advances our understanding of the nature of religious power and that of religious discourse and institutions in particular.
L'article défend l'idée que l'on comprend mieux le phénomène religieux en le considérant comme un mode de régulation que comme un domaine de l'activité humaine, distinct par nature de la politique et du gouvernement. L'étude d'une association de prêtres catholiques active dans les années 1950 et 1960 suggère que lire la religion en termes d'autorité et de régulation fait progresser notre compréhension de la nature du pouvoir religieux et plus précisément du discours religieux et de ses institutions.
Dieser Untersuchung liegt die Behauptung zugrunde, dass das religiöse Phänomen besser als Regelwerk als eine von Politik und Regierung getrennte Lebensweise verstanden wird. Die Beobachtung einer aktiven katholischen Priestergemeinschaft der 50er und 60er Jahre lässt erkennen, dass die als Autoritätsperson und Regelwerk verstandene Religion unsere Vorstellung von religiöser Macht, insbesondere des religiösen Diskurses und seiner Institutionen, fördert.
* I would like to thank Manlio Cinalli, Sara Clavero Martín, Dianne Kirby, Liam O'Dowd and both Hans Joas and the Reading Committee of the AES/EJS for comments that helped improve this article.
(1) The legacy of classical nineteenth century liberalism – as a political philosophy articulating and legitimating such distinctions, as the major political force responsible for realising a socio-political order in which such distinctions were institutionalised, and as a powerful ideology vesting such (created) distinctions with the blessings of nature, history or modernity – can hardly be underestimated in this connection.
